The New Orleans Index: In contrast to the nation, the greater New Orleans economy has grown, boosted by the large-scale rebuilding effort underway. There is a new uptick in population growth and the region's unemployment rate is a relatively low 4.9 percent.

Alabama was once the most unionized state in the South. Now less than five percent of labor in the private sector is organized. With Austal, ThyssenKrupp, the new container terminal at the port and perhaps Airbus delivering thousands of new jobs, will unions re-emerge as a big factor in the local economy? Part 1 in a series.